Carl Zeiss


Zeiss, Carl

 

Born Sept. 11, 1816, in Weimar; died Dec. 3, 1888, in Jena. German optician; founder of an optical firm in Jena.

Zeiss moved to Jena in 1834 and became an apprentice of the noted optician F. Körner, a docent at the University of Jena. In 1838 he visited machine shops in Stuttgart, Darmstadt, Vienna, and Berlin. In 1846 he opened a workshop in Jena to produce magnifying glasses and simple microscopes. The workshop subsequently developed into a company for the manufacture of optical instruments. Zeiss engaged E. Abbe and F. O. Schott to work in the firm. Since 1948 the Zeiss Optical Works has been a people’s enterprise of the German Democratic Republic.